Bureaucracy and Bullets
by Brother Brain
Summary: Samus just wanted to cash a bounty. She didn't ask for the building to be attacked in the process. It seems she'll have to crack some skulls, and other assorted bones, before she can get paid.


It was said that money made the universe go round. And while that was certainly true, the saying left out several paragraphs more regarding the purpose of bureaucracy, each complete with a dozen pieces of substantiating evidence and addendums. That was the force that truly ruled civilized space. It prevented tyrants and criminals from flourishing inside the system and ensured the proper response was organized against those outside of it.

But knowing its vitality didn't make Samus Aran hate it any less. She was currently in line in the waiting room of the Galactic Federation headquarters on K'essh. The fact that she was an infamous bounty hunter throughout the majority of civilized space, and a good portion of the uncivilized regions, didn't make the line move any faster. An hour of standing in line and she had moved a total of five steps forward. She had counted.

She sighed to herself and looked around impatiently. With her opaque visor and external sound muted, no sign of her impatience leaked out. Combined with her total control over her body language, one could easily mistake her for a robot. She had made excellent use of these facts several times, cursing people out to their face while giving the outward impression of patiently listening.

Samus occupied herself by studying the room. It was fairly standard, with metal walls and slit like windows in order to ensure defensive viability in the case of an attack. The stone floors were unique though, probably the result of some extra money in the budget. Unornamented columns lined the walls, as did guards. The line led to a desk shielded by reinforced glass, with a hatch to one side to allow approved visitors into the building proper.

The architecture suitably analyzed, Samus decided to play 'How Would I Kill Them?'. She smirked to herself as she reflected on how many people would refuse to meet with her if they knew how often she played the game. _Let's see_ , she pondered _, They're in standard GF armor, so I could probably wipe half the room with one barrage of seeker missiles. Spin and drop to avoid return fire, charge plasma beam-_

She was jolted back to reality as her captive tried to pull away. The scrawny human had both hands bound behind him with energy cuffs, with a third strand connecting him to her wrist. Irritated, she yanked him back, the enhanced strength of her armor easily throwing him off balance.

"Come on," the man whined, "Can't I get some wiggle room?"

"Seven murders." Samus replied as she unmuted her helmet. The word came out in an ominous electronic tone, the vocal filter lowering her speech several octaves. She set the filter to both mask her speech and intimidate potential foes. To facilitate the second, she'd added a second feature. A data link to her scan visor analyzed the species of whoever she was talking too, then added a secondary electronic tone to the speech. The tone was designed to remain outside of their audible range, but at such a frequency to trigger the subject's fear response.

The effect showed as the man unconsciously tried to shrink away. Or maybe it was just him remembering his initial meeting with Samus. An armored figure tearing through a wall while intoning your identity and crimes tended to leave an impression.

"I don't-" he stammered.

"Consider what your cell size will likely be like," she continued over him, "And revel in your current freedom. Of course, I could always arrange for you to get more room."

He perked up at that. "You could?"

"Quite easily," Samus said as she held up her arm cannon to examine, "Tell me, how much room do you think your legs take up?"

She grinned as the blood drained from his face. _It's almost too easy_. Behind her, the door to the outside hissed open. She turned around to look at the new arrivals, an instinct drilled into her years ago.

She had barely registered them before she started bringing her cannon to bear. A pair of reptilian pirates, two humanoids covered in dark cloth, and a bulky Enoema had entered the room. A few things seemed off to her even as she started charging a wave beam shot. The first was that none of them were carrying guns, or even the standard energy scythes. The second was what they were carrying. The pirate in the rear hefted a cloth bag, the Enoema held what seemed like a large axe, one humanoid had some ancient strait sword, and the other two held nothing at all.

All these facts raced through her head in the split second it took her to draw a bead on the lead figure. In that same split second, the pirate with the cloth bag threw a bulky metallic sphere to the ground. And in the split second between activing target lock and firing, the sphere reacted.

It exploded outward in an electric blue shockwave, washing over Samus before she could fire. Her visor broke into static for a moment before vanishing, leaving her looking at the other side of a dull piece of green material. At the same time she felt an immense weight slam down onto her. She bent under the weight, nearly falling over.

 _What the hell?_ She felt like gravity had been increased, pulling down on her limbs, her body, her head. Her visor was disabled, leaving her trapped in the dark with only a faint glimmer of light on the other side of the thick material. As soon as she thought it, the answer clicked. _EMP._

It was commonly believed that Chozo tech was completely immune to such weapons. Samus knew that better than anyone, having started numerous rumors on the subject in order to deter anyone from trying them in the first place. The truth was, Chozo tech wasn't completely immune, just extremely durable. If one had the proper resources, one could build an EMP capable of crippling her suit. It was simply dumb luck these people happened to have such resources.

 _Note to self, upgrade EMP shielding_ , Samus thought to herself. At the same time she willed the armor to dissipate. That function still worked, having been designed to function even in such conditions. The weight vanished as the form fitting tomb collapsed into its energy storage form. She blinked once as her eyes adjusted, reorienting herself just in time to see her captive be cut down.

The idiot must have made a run for it as soon as his bonds vanished. For some reason, he'd seen fit to pass within arm's reach of the attackers. This line of action had stopped as abruptly as the Enoema's axe in his chest.

 _Damn_ , Samus thought, _he was an alive bounty._

The group looked around the room and hefted their weapons, seemingly satisfied with their work. The room was dark, not even emergency lights active. The door behind them had frozen before shutting completely, leaving a peephole on sunlight into the darkened room. Along the walls the guards slumped over, unable to simply dissipate their burden as Samus had. Even if they could, their weapons would have been useless.

Samus looked behind her towards the desk. The others who had been in line had pulled back, pressing themselves against the wall. Some had some semblance of bravery, trying to keep a calm expression or producing a small knife, but most were simply trying to keep their distance from the threat. That left her as their sole line of defense.

She sized them up quickly. She'd heard of groups like them in the underworld. Mufflers, professional assassins and thieves trained in ancient methods of combat. They would activate EMPs, then cut down their helpless victims using their primitive but unaffected methods. _Of course,_ she thought as she eyed their weapons _, just because their usual targets are helpless doesn't mean they don't know how to fight._

 _Okay, what do I know?_ She looked over the two pirates. _Space pirates. That means they have resources, probably explains the quality of the EMP. That also means they might not be professional mufflers, just a few pirates who got selected for the task_. Her gaze roamed to the bag held by the one in the rear. _And I don't know what's in that. Wild card, always dangerous._

Her gaze moved to the Enoema. _Enoema, working with pirates. Might be enhanced. Seems bigger than the scientists, but not nearly Kanden sized. No fused armor either, probably only minor._ She examined the axe. _And that's not a traditional Enoema weapon. Probably chosen for brute force, which means he's got the strength for it, but not the training._

Lastly she examined the cloth covered figures. _All covered, so no easy hints to species. Biped, proportions, limb structure, hands. Signs point to something similar to human. Not specific, but enough to work with. One has a sword, but the other isn't holding anything. Means hidden weapon or hand-to-hand._

 _So what can I guess?_ She thought as the first second after being freed from her armor passed. _Pirates planned this, with minimal training and a reliance on surprise. Possibly hired some actual mufflers for help._

The pirate in the lead stepped forward. It made a noise that sounded like a cross between gargle and growl before coughing out a statement in Common. "Human, stand aside."

 _And they somehow don't know I'm The Hunter_ , Samus thought, _This could go well._

The pirate stood for a moment, awaiting a response. When none came it growled and stepped forward, pulling a combat knife from a sheath on its belt.

Samus stood alone between five trained killers and a group of civilians. Her armor was shorted out, remaining functional just enough to vanish or appear. Her Paralyzer would be similarly useless, and she'd never gotten around to carrying a knife of her own. The closest thing to a defense she had was a skintight flight suit, which would probably hold up to mean words before breaking. Faced with such odds, she made the reasonable decision. She charged.

The pirate was taken aback by the sudden response. The delay was all Samus needed. It tried to stab at her, but by then she was already too close. She effortlessly sidestepped the blow to stand outside its grasp, grabbing its wrist and turning to keep pulling it forward. As it stumbled forward under its own momentum she lashed out with her leg, hooking around its ankle and pulling back and away from its body. With its body being pulled in two directions it succumbed to physics and fell onto its stomach, the knife skittering out of its hand.

Samus was already moving as its compatriots moved to attack. The Enoema reached first, swinging the axe down in a swift and brutal overhead strike. Samus stepped to the side, allowing the axe to slam into the ground just beside her. Before her foe could pull the blade free from the ground she was moving, stepping onto the axe and running up. Her enhanced muscles and sense of balance made the task look almost effortless, running up the shaft of the axe and the arm that held it. As she reached the shoulder she used the movement of her opponent straightening up to try and react to enhance a leap, kicking it in the face as she did so.

As her living springboard staggered back she twisted in midair to avoid a swipe from the sword of its ally. The other humanoid mentally mapped her arc, then threw himself to the side as Samus tried to bring both her feet down on his head. Her target gone, she continued on her path to the floor, landing in a crouch and immediately straightening her legs to capitalize on the initial spring effect of her muscles. Her actions had positioned four of her enemies behind her, leaving the pirate holding the bag exposed.

She rapidly closed the short distance between them, aiming to take the wild card out of play. The pirate stepped away from her, but didn't seem to be urgent in its motions. As she was nearly upon it, Samus noticed a blur of motion from the humanoid who had dodged her landing.

She turned and twisted, narrowly avoiding a blur of metal that cut through the air where her neck would have been. The humanoid was holding several small knives she recognized as kunai. The weapons were favored among human assassins who wanted to avoid guns and among those who wanted to look cool.

As another blade cut through the air, Samus decided the humanoid definitely fell under the first category. Shifting targets, she ran towards the knife wielder, acutely aware that she was leaving her back towards the pirate with the bag. A flurry of knives flew towards her as she approached.

Space pirates who had reviewed the security footage of The Hunter were aware that she was far faster and more agile than she should be. What seemed like it should be an implacably advancing machine acted more like a dancer or a gymnast, dodging and avoiding just as many hits as she powered through. That was nothing compared to this. Without the bulk of her suit to weigh on her, Samus moved with a lethal grace, always managing to be where the knives were not.

The humanoid reacted desperately as his foe approached, avoiding every blade. Frantically, he gathered a cluster of blades in each hand and hurtled them, aiming in such a way to force Samus between them. As before she avoided the attack, but in doing so placed herself in the desired avenue.

A single blade shot towards her, its throw masked by the movements of throwing the others. It shot through the air, twisting like a drill, the point aimed solidly at her left eye. In the tradition of modern replications of ancient weapons, the knife had been laser sharpened to a monomolecular edge. It would pierce the eye, then the skull, then the brain, before punching out the back of her head. Or at least it should have.

The tiniest hint of a grin crossed Samus's face as she noticed the blade, the enhancements to her physiology allowing her to notice the faint glimmer of light as it reflected from the blade. Quickly, far more quickly than she should have, she brought her hand up to intercept it. She knew the methods used to make such weapons, only an amateur wouldn't, so she didn't try to block it. She caught it instead.

The knife wielder stared in mute shock as he realized that Samus had grabbed the knife by its handle as it flew towards her, stopping it mere millimeters away from her eye without flinching. His surprise was cut short when Samus whipped the knife back at him. He tried to twist himself away, hoping vainly to imitate the feats he had seen her perform.

The only thing that saved him was Samus's own inexperience with knives. His flinch, combined with her own mistakes, caused the knife to strike him in the shoulder rather than the throat. It buried itself up to its handle before being jammed on the dense bone and muscle. He screamed in pain as Samus ran towards him.

He grabbed another knife in his good hand and tried to stab at her as she reached him. She deflected the blow almost contemptuously before twisting around him. As she moved, she grabbed the knife she had thrown and pulled it free. It left his body for a brief moment before she plunged it back in, stabbing him just below the armpit and dragging it down and back across his torso as she moved. The blow was carefully calculated, placed in such a way to intersect an artery on any of the species she suspected he was.

She suspected correctly. He screamed again as red blood began to pour out of the wound. He was dimly aware of her pulling the knife out and moving away. He wavered and collapsed, his vision going dark. Soon, he wasn't aware of anything.

Samus moved away from the humanoid as he bled out as his allies reached her. The first was the other humanoid, sword swinging down in an overhead cut. In the split second, Samus read the body language. It seemed hesitant, uncommitted, likely suspecting that she would dodge.

Again she went for the unexpected. Samus clapped her hands together on the blade, capitalizing on the lack of force by stopping it completely. Before the humanoid could react Samus leapt into the air, maintaining her hold on the sword. Keeping her body horizontal to the ground, she twisted in midair, twisting the sword along with her. At the same time she extended her leg in a strait kick to the chest of her opponent.

The twisting of grip combined with backward force tore the sword from its owner's hand. As her opponent staggered back, Samus landed on her feet and began turning back towards it. As she moved she briefly considered the sword in her hands, but realized she wouldn't be able to bring it into a combat position before she needed it. Instead she twisted her hands as she turned to face her foe and threw it like a massive shuriken.

The humanoid dropped into a crouch as the sword flew past spinning end over end. As the sword hit the ground behind it, striking point first and remaining upright, Samus was already moving. Her hands seized the humanoid by the head, bringing her knee up to slam into its face. Already in a crouch, the humanoid wasn't able to avoid the blow. Samus's knee met its face with a crunching sound.

A moment after the impact Samus released its head, having held on just long enough to maximize the force of the strike. It tried to pull away from her, hoping to get out of striking range. Samus moved after it, bringing the stolen knife to bear. The humanoid managed to see the action through the cracked lenses of its goggles and tried to twist away.

The knife ripped through the cloth around its neck but managed to miss flesh. Irritated, Samus flipped the knife into a reverse grip to retry the stab as she brought her arm back around. As she did so she took notice of a series of heavy footsteps.

Instead of striking she dodged to the side, turning around as she did so. The Enoema's axe cut through the air where she had been. It managed to convert the downward momentum into a curve aimed at her legs, having learned from last time. Samus jumped strait up as the blade swept beneath her, throwing the knife at the peak of her jump.

The knife thudded home in its upper arm, distracting it from trying to strike her while she was in midair and thus unable to maneuver. Samus landed on her feet and began moving around the Enoema in the opposite direction of where the axe had been moving. She could see the reptilian pirates circling behind the Enoema, awaiting an opening, and heard the footsteps of the humanoid as it ran to retrieve its sword.

The Enoema swung the axe back around towards her head, having missed the chance to conserve its momentum due to the knife. Samus ducked under the swing and darted forward, punching it directly in the face. Its head snapped back as her enhanced muscles empowered the blow, but quickly recovered and tried to bull-rush Samus.

She dodge rolled to the side, regaining her feet as it skidded to a stop several meters away. It whirled on her, fixing her with a hate filled glare. Yellow-green blood still dribbling from its mandibles, it began to advance on her again.

 _I can't kill it easily with my bare hands,_ Samus thought, _I need something like-_ Her gaze fell on the axe and her face split into a grin. _That._

The Enoema suddenly put on a burst of speed, closing the last bit of distance between them, hoping to put her off balance. It jabbed at her with the butt of the axe, which was tipped with a sharpened spike. Samus dodged the blows, using the occasional opening to dart forward and land a glancing hit. On one she managed to pull the knife free from its arm and slash across its chest.

It yelled in anger and abandoned its conservative attack pattern, swinging the axe around towards her head. Samus judged the arc of the blade and made her move.

The Chozo battle armor was designed to survive nearly anything. Even an EMP would only disable it rather than completely fry its systems. The armor would remain unresponsive, its advanced technology dormant. The only thing that would work was the function to make it dissipate or congeal, and even that required intense willpower.

Willpower was something Samus had plenty of. Summoning the whole suit would be useless of course, trapping her in a personal tomb. Instead she focused on a single portion, a trick taught to her by one of her tutors. Armor flashed into existence around her upraised forearm, a single piece of the full suit.

She caught the axe on her forearm, just behind the axe head. The armor prevented her bones from cracking, while her enhanced muscles allowed her to halt the blow. The axe came to a stop centimeters away from her head. In that brief moment, while the full force of the blow was still being exerted, Samus attacked.

She stepped forward with the leg opposite of the axe and struck with her free hand. At the same time she twisted her forearm holding the axe in place to grasp the haft. The blow struck upward, punching into the armpit of the arm holding the axe. With its muscles tense with the blow, and Samus herself holding the limb in place, there was no give to the Enoema's flesh. Its shoulder was popped from its socket, sending a jolt of pain to its brain.

It howled as the arm went slack, fingers dropping away from the axe. Samus spun, twirling the axe in her hand like one would a baton as the armor around her forearm vanished again. As its other arm raised to grab its wounded shoulder, it left its side exposed.

Samus brought the axe crashing into its exposed flank. It tried to howl again as it crumpled around the blow. Instead it mutely sunk to the floor as its lifeblood poured out of its side.

Samus turned away from the Enoema, leaving the axe buried in its side. Just in time, as the knife wielding pirate was rushing her from behind. She stepped aside from her fallen foe so as not to stumble over the prone form as they fought.

The pirate attacked with careful slashes, wary to avoid the reckless behavior that had led to the ends of its compatriots. Samus dodged each blow, barely taking the time to treat the pirate as a combatant. In the back ground she could see the humanoid moving towards them with its sword, while the other pirate had opened the bag and begun rummaging inside.

 _Time to end this_ , she thought.

As the pirate tried to stab her from the side her hand snapped out and grabbed its wrist. She quickly pulled upward, twisting the pirate off balance. As she did so she snapped the knife she had retrieved from the Enoema's arm into its knee. A fraction of a second later she lifted her foot and stomped down on the handle, driving the knife clean through the joint.

The pirate screamed in pain, dropping the knife as its joints went watery in agony. Samus released its wrist as she devastated its knee, snatching the knife as it fell. She grabbed its shoulder with her empty hand and pulled forward. With one leg useless and its mind hazy with pain, the pirate toppled forward. As its head passed by her, Samus stabbed the knife into the weak spot where vertebrae met skull.

Its spine severed, the pirate collapses nervelessly. The glow of its eyes faded quickly as its heart and lungs ceased to function.

Samus stepped forward as the humanoid reached her and tried a strait thrust towards her chest. Samus intercepted it as armor flashed into existence around her left hand. She grabbed the weapon halfway down its length and squeezed hard. Despite her strength, the maneuver usually wouldn't have worked without the extra power granted by armor. But trapped against the unyielding Chozo metals of the gauntlet, the sword shattered in her grip.

With her armored hand she grabbed the severed half of the sword, while her right hand clamped down on the extended wrist of the humanoid and pulled it forward. The pull combined with the forward momentum of the thrust and dragged the humanoid towards Samus.

As soon as it was within reach, Samus stabbed the end of the sword into the humanoid's gut. Its eyes widened under its goggles as blue blood began to flow. Samus was already moving past, shoving her wounded foe to the ground.

 _I have to get-_ Samus's line of thought sopped as the pirate produced something from its bag. It was a bulky piece of wood and metal, with a heavy drum set under it and a wedge of wood at the back. Even given its archaic nature, Samus could recognize a weapon.

She threw herself to the side as the pirate braced the wedge against its shoulder, leveled the barrel at her, and pulled the trigger. The boom was deafening, far louder that the energy based weapons Samus was used to. Metal pellets peppered the ground where she had been standing, gouging chips of stone from the ground.

She was acutely aware that she couldn't close the distance before it was able to get off at least one more shot. She turned and ran, aiming to duck behind one of the pillars. The pirate grinned and pulled the trigger again. This time, all that came out was a click.

It frowned and looked over the weapon before realization dawned on it. It grabbed a section under the barrel and pulled back, opening a port and ejecting a metal cylinder. By then, Samus was safely behind a pillar. It snarled and fired, blasting her cover.

Behind her cover, Samus pulled away from the edge as sparks were thrown up from the shot. _Okay, how do I deal with this?_ The gun boomed again, throwing up more sparks. Beneath that sound, Samus could hear its footsteps as it moved forward, hoping to circle the pillar.

 _I can't use full armor without getting trapped, but I can't just armor part of me and hope for the best._ She listened to the gun boom again. _Unless…_

She listened to the shot, then counted the time before it reloaded. _Unless it doesn't matter if I'm trapped._

She waited for the pirate to fire again, then made her move. She burst out from behind the pillar, but rather than charge the pirate head on she jumped towards the pillar, hitting feet first nearly halfway up its length and launching herself at her foe.

The pirate's aim was thrown off by the sudden maneuver, preventing it from shooting her as she moved. Even so, it had enough skill to aim at her as she fell towards her. The boom of the gun sounded in the same moment as the flash of light.

The pellets bounced harmlessly from Samus's armor. The sudden weight of the armor pulled own on her, lowering her trajectory, but it was already flashing out of existence.

Samus hit the ground shoulder-first a meter before the pirate, turning the momentum into a somersault. Her feet hit the ground as she heard the sound of the gun being armed. She launched herself upward, one hand grabbing the gun and forcing the barrel up and away. The other hand struck the pirate in the throat with stiffened fingers, cracking the windpipe.

As the pirate coughed and staggered back Samus turned away from it, twisting the gun out of its hands. As she completed the turn, coming back to face it, she cracked the stock of the gun across its face. The blow, powered by the momentum of her turn and her own muscles, knocked it to the ground. Samus quickly reoriented the gun, bracing the stock against her shoulder.

She aligned the barrel with the pirate's head, then thought better of it and shifted her aim. The shot nearly severed its leg at the knee. It screamed in pain and clutched the wound. Then it froze as it felt the cold metal of the gun barrel press into its forehead.

"I feel like we should have a talk." Samus said.

The pirate didn't respond, gasping in pain.

Samus watched him for a moment, then raised a boot and stomped on the wounded knee. The blood drained from the pirate's face and it vomited from pain. Samus quickly stepped back to avoid the puddle, noting several teeth in the pool. Apparently she'd landed a good hit with the gun.

"Talk." She said coldly.

The pirate briefly met her gaze, eyes clouded by pain. "In the shadow of Ridley," it choked out, "We are but ash."

Nothing happened. Silence stretched between the two for what seemed like an eternity.

"Interesting." Samus said quietly, "What do you know that you would try and kill yourself rather than talk?"

The silence stretched again. The pirate broke it by releasing its knee and grabbing at its belt. Samus moved too, taking one hand off the gun to grab at its hand as it pulled out a knife. They wrestled for a moment as the pirate tried to bring the knife to its throat. After several seconds of frantic motion, Samus got the upper hand by kneeling on its forearm. With her free hand she grabbed its thumb and wrenched back. The digit snapped like a twig, letting the knife tumble to the ground as it screamed.

Samus grabbed the knife and tossed it out of reach. _Unskilled with the weapon, forgot the EMP shorted out his suicide device. Not professional, just disposable for the mission._

"Distraction." She whispered. She looked down at her captive, who had ceased struggling and was glaring at her. "Thank you for your help."

She got up and looked around the room. Despite everything that had happened, her suit didn't have so much as a scratch. The others in the room were still clustered at the other end of the room, looking at her in amazement. She jerked a thumb towards the half open door. "One of you go out and call for help." When no one responded, she pointed at someone at random. "You. Go. Now."

The being jerked in surprise, but ran to comply with the authority of her tone. She looked away and tried to remember the layout of the building. _It should be standard design, but there's no power to the doors…_ Her gaze fell on something in the corner and she nearly smiled. At least somethings never changed.

* * *

Several levels above, the guards were nervous. An EMP had gone off in the lower floors a few minutes ago, and while they had been far enough away that their armor remained functional, it had still cut power to the building.

One of their number was calmer than the rest. Standard operating procedure said they were supposed to continue guarding their objective, and that was fine with him. He would be happy to babysit a hallway while other people dealt with the problem.

He stood with his partner on either side of a door. The door itself wasn't important, but he didn't much care. He could see a four man squad round the corner at the other end of the hall. Like him, they were still following their standard routine. Though he was willing to bet they weren't as happy about it as him.

As they moved down the hallway, one of them looked down another hallway. That was when she realized something was wrong. The hallway should have ended with the door to the elevator. Instead it ended in a hole, edges still glowing with heat, that opened onto the elevator shaft.

"We have a problem!" she said urgently as she leveled her gun at the opening. She didn't have time to elaborate before something tore through the weaker portion of the armor around her neck. She fell limply to the floor, the edges of the wound sizzling as heat cauterized it, and something tore through the group.

Another trooper fell as he turned toward the noise, a gash melted through his visor. The next trooper had better luck, firing towards what he hoped was the threat. Most impacted on the wall, but one vanished in midair. The flash of the impact briefly revealed their foe, the cloaking field flickering before reestablishing itself.

It was roughly the size of a human, but hunched over. Dark grey armor with purple markings covered it from head to toe, with a single electric blue light set in the center of the forehead like an eye. One arm held a bulky device tipped in a trio of robotic legs that came together like a pyramid, while the other seemed to end in a sapphire blade.

And then it was gone again, the guard who had shot it already falling to the ground as it moved forward and stabbed its blade into the gap of armor in the armpit, cutting through and frying his organs. The fourth tried to shoot it, but a haze in the air showed it was already gone. A flash of blue came from behind him and he fell with a hole drilled in the back of his helmet.

The guards at the door barely hesitated as they saw the last one fall mere seconds after the warning shout came, filling the hallway with bolts of energy. The attacker avoided every shot, hidden by his cloak.

Retaliation came quickly. A metal disk became visible as it left the intruder's hand, flying through the air towards a guard. It slapped onto his chestplate, one side magnetically attaching itself. As it connected, a trio of spidery legs extended from its rim and clamped onto the armor.

A moment later, electricity jolted through the armor. His weapon sputtered and died as his visor degenerated into static. His partner hesitated for just a moment as he fell to the ground. It was a moment too long.

The attacked stepped out into the open as the gunfire faltered. His cloaked winked off as he pointed the bulky device at the other guard, a small sphere of light forming at the peak of the limbs. The thermal drill he had used to carve through the elevator doors activates at the remaining guard turned back to the hall. An orange beam shot between them as the pirate moved his arm in a small arc.

The beam bisected the guard, continuing on to melt a furrow in the wall behind. The remaining guard attempted to push himself into a sitting position under the weight of his unpowered armor. Through the glass of his visor he saw a foot step in front of him.

His attacker stood over him as he tried to jump in surprise. He hadn't even heard footsteps. The pirate contemplated the helpless guard. In this state, he wouldn't be a threat. Under his helmet, the pirate's lips curled into a cruel grin.

He raised his energy scythe and stabbed the guard in the back. It halted for a moment as it impacted the armor, then pushed through. The guard shuddered as the pirate carved through his spine and heart before pushing through the breastplate to pin him to the ground. There would be no mercy.

He pulled the scythe free, blood hissing into steam on its surface. A mental command deactivated the blade as he pulled the thermal drill from his arm and slung it onto his back. Then he pulled a block from his belt, affixing it to the deactivated door. He retreated down the hall to stand around a corner, then pushed a button on his bracer.

The device exploded, blowing the door into metallic shreds. As the sound faded the pirate was already rounding the corner and running to the opening.

* * *

Inside the room, the regional commander of the Galactic Federation coughed and waved smoke out of his face. He pushed himself upright, keeping his desk between himself and the door. Through the smoke came a figure, moving with a predatory gait towards him.

He gasped and scrabbled on the underside of his desk for his pistol. The figure didn't seem to notice his actions, a blue blade coalescing on its forearm. He finally found the weapon, pulling it free and aiming at the figure. It moved faster than he thought it would, leaping towards him and cutting an arc through the air with its blade.

His mouth fell open as the barrel of his pistol fell away from the grip. The pirate's other hand shot out and grabbed him by the throat, dragging him upright.

"Regional Commander of K'ressh," it said in a quiet modulated tone that seemed far more threatening than any yell, "You have been selected for death. You have five seconds to make peace with your deities."

He tried to say something, but nothing would come out. The pirate watched him dispassionately. "Your time is up." It said as it raised its blade to run him through.

The commander looked up as if hoping to see some kind of sign. What he saw was the ventilation grate fall from the ceiling, followed by a woman in a skintight blue suit.

* * *

The pirate turned as he heard the noise, raising his scythe to block an attack. It did him little good as the stolen gun boomed in Samus's hands, peppering him with metal pellets. Surprised, he released his grip on the commander, who quickly dodged between the two and fled the room.

Samus pumped the shotgun and fired again. The pirate staggered back, dozens of tiny dents appearing in his armor. She pumped again and pulled the trigger. This time all that came was a click. She grimaced and tossed it aside. She hadn't been able to figure out how to check the ammo, but she'd been hoping it had more than that.

The pirate reoriented himself and turned toward her, the blue light on his helmet flickering. "Samus Aran." He stated.

She pulled out a pair of knives she'd taken from a fallen muffler. "Correct." She said, dropping into a combat stance.

"You have been selected for death." The pirate pulled something from his belt with his free hand. Samus peered at it.

 _Oh shit. Is that a pistol?_

"Your right to prayer is suspended." The shadow pirate faded from visibility, leaving Samus facing an empty room.

Shadow pirates were among the most feared of all space pirate troops. While commandos likely bested them in sheer firepower, it was the shadow pirates that made hardened soldiers fear the night. Trained in every conceivable method of infiltration and close quarters combat, becoming a shadow pirate was harder than becoming a surgeon. Each had to memorize the anatomy of hundreds of species, learning vulnerabilities and weaknesses in order to better kill them.

One of their few weaknesses was their cloak. It lacked the power to support additional weapons systems, forcing them to rely on trickery and melee combat. Of course, this didn't mean much when that was what they excelled at. And if one should happen to have a pistol independent of that power source…

Samus dropped to the floor as she heard a quiet buzz. A bolt of energy shot through the air where she had been standing, burning a hole in the wall. She moved as fast as she could, wincing as another shot burned her thigh as it passed.

 _I can't win like this,_ she thought as another shot narrowly missed her, _I need a game changer._

She ducked behind the desk as the shreds of a plan formed in her head. She judged the angle of the shots, then threw herself against the desk. _Please don't be bolted to the floor._

Luckily for her, it wasn't. Though she wasn't as strong as she was in armor, she was still strong enough to shove the desk across the ground. It shot forward, sliding on the metal floor, before hitting something invisible. One side thudded to a stop, while the other kept going.

Having established where the pirate was, Samus jumped forward, desperately hoping he hadn't moved far. Her hopes were answered as she collided with the pirate as he tried to rise. She quickly struck down, trying to keep him from bringing his weapons to bear while trying to judge the location of his head. Knowing she couldn't keep this up, she guessed and stabbed.

The knife slid across the helmet for a moment before striking home in the blue light of the helmet. The optical sensor shattered as the knife pushed in, continuing on to prick the pirate's forehead before the armor surrounding it halted the blade.

Samus leapt back as sparks appeared to shoot out of midair. The pirate quickly regained his feet, pulling the knife free and tossing it aside. Realizing its sensors were beyond salvaging, he tore off the helmet and tossed that away as well.

If he'd had the time, the pirate could have recalibrated his cloaking device to hide his head even without the helmet. As it was, the pirate's head appeared to be floating in midair. Realizing the cloak was compromised, he shut it down entirely.

Samus studied her foe's face. He was the same reptilian species she had encountered on Tallon IV, where she'd first encountered shadow pirates. She wondered if he'd been there. His skin was a dark purple, with glowing orange eyes containing slit-like pupils. A pair of thin scars crisscrossed his lips and left eye, while a tattoo of some web-like shape spread from his neck to his right eye.

* * *

At the same time, the shadow pirate studied her. He knew who she was, he'd studied her enough in training. Even after that he'd researched her and her exploits, fascinated with the power one being could possess. He saw pale pigmentation, with eyes that contained rings of white and green around a circular pupil. She had the fur most humans seemed to have on their heads, colored a shade of yellow. He discounted all that as irrelevant.

What was important was her lack of armor. He'd guessed that it was her when she'd appeared, but that was based on one blurry image supposedly of her outside of her battle suit. Why she didn't have her armor was a mystery, but if she had the gun and knives she likely killed the distraction team in in the lobby. Perhaps the armor was disabled, but he found it more likely that she'd didn't think him enough of a threat to bother with the armor.

The Hunter was toying with him. He considered this, and decided he was at peace with it. He would die eventually, and he might as well die against the Hunter. His only regret was that his nestlings would never know of the glory of his death.

He took five seconds to make peace, then attacked.

* * *

 _Shit!_ Samus threw herself to the side as the pirate fired the pistol at her. The shots zipped through the air, burning a dotted line on the wall behind her as she moved. A few nearly found their mark, scorching through the ends of her hair.

She snatched a paper weight off a shelf as she moved and hurtled it towards the pirate. It flew through the air towards the pistol, aimed to knock it out of his hand. His aim shifted for a fraction of a second and the next shot blasted the projectile out of the air. The gunfire resumed before the molten remains hit the ground.

Samus realized the failure and aborted her plan to attack before he could reorient himself for close quarters. Instead she ran through the mangled remains of the door. The shadw pirate blinke din surprise. Out of everything to do, _fleeing_ wasn't what he'd expected.

He followed cautiously, looking for a trap. He was rewarded for his caution when a bolt of energy nearly struck him in the head. He ducked back into the room as Samus opened fire with the gun pilfered from the dead guard.

The shadow pirate tried to duck around the corner and return fire, but a precise shot tore the pistol from his hand. He hissed a curse and looked around. One particular feature caught his interest.

Samus continued firing into the doorway. With any luck, she'd be able to keep him in cover long enough for her suit to reboot. The best she could tell, it was just a few minutes away.

That train of thought was cut short when she heard a metal clanging noise behind her. She turned to face it, only for a small metal disk to fly towards her and attach itself to her gun. Samus recognized it as something commonly referred to as a frydisk, small weapons used to short out powered armor and weapons.

She cursed and tossed the useless weapon aside as the shadow pirate landed on the floor. _That bastard. He stole my trick._

The pirate didn't let a pause stretch this time, kicking the vent cover towards her and running forward. Samus dodged the projectile and quickly found herself face to face with the shadow pirate. She cursed again and tried to retreat. The pirate didn't give her any room, advancing on her with a flurry of jabs, cuts, and strikes.

Samus avoided the attacks as best she could, but she wasn't so arrogant as to be unaware of when she was outclassed. And in this case, she most definitely was. A group of mufflers were one thing, but a shadow pirate was much different. Each attack flowed into the next, leaving no openings for an unarmed combatant.

It advanced inexorably, the plates of its armor sliding across each other without so much as a whisper, remaining defiantly mute. The only sounds were the breathing of the pair and the hum of the blade. Eventually, a blow made contact.

It wasn't serious, just a shallow gash across the forearm, but it was enough. The pirate hesitated for a moment in confusion, then continued the attack. Samus tried to counter, but against an enemy with superior equipment and training, she couldn't do much. Another blow cut across her shoulder. Then another slashed across her stomach. None were serious, but they were enough to show the power balance of the fight.

The shadow pirate attacked with even more viciousness, bolstered by his success. Samus gained another half dozen wounds as she defended herself. In desperation, she waited for the pirate to stab forward again, then grabbed the arm and pulled it forward, allowing it to pass past her.

The pirate was prepared for such actions and wore lightly powered armor, so it didn't have the same effect as it did on the mufflers. It was enough. She brought the stolen knife around in her other hand and stabbed it into the metal projector of the energy scythe. It wasn't enough to destroy it, but as it severed wires and cracked circuitry the scythe automatically shut down to avoid causing further damage.

Samus released the limb and stepped back and the shadow pirate pulled back its arm. _Alright,_ she thought as she held the knife in a combat position, _Now let's see what you've got_.

The shadow pirate looked at her warily… then activated the energy scythe on its other arm. _Oh come on!_ Samus mentally complained.

The shadow pirate resumed its attack. Once more his superior weapon and experience in this kind of combat allowed him the upper hand over Samus. One blow nearly took her eye out, cleaving through the lock of hair hanging loose on one side of her face.

Eventually, the shadow pirate managed to find an opening. Using the threat of the scythe to control Samus's movements, he managed to get her to twist her torso towards it, leaving her abdomen exposed. He moved swiftly, leaping into the air and extending both legs to slam into her exposed side.

The blow staggered Samus, but wasn't enough to knock her down. As the pirate landed it moved towards her, grabbing one wrist as she overextended her arm to try and recover and sweeping at her legs with his leg. The action managed to twist Samus off her feet, with the pirate elbowing her in the head for good measure.

Samus hit the ground, rolling to face the pirate. Without a weapon, there wasn't much she could do. The pirate stepped forward, slamming a foot down onto her abdomen to hold her on place. He raised the scythe, then hesitated.

 _Well shit_ , Samus thought, as she prepared for the final blow, _Is he going to show mercy?_

The answer was no. He steeled himself, then brought the scythe down towards her chest. Before it could make contact, Samus registered something she'd been waiting for.

The scythe rapidly approached her chest, then stopped as a flash of light appeared between her and the blade. The pirate's eyes widened as her armor flashed into existence around her. Time froze for a moment.

Then Samus launched herself upward, swatting the scythe aside and throwing the pirate off of her. As it stumbled back, she reached out and grabbed him by the ankle, then turned and hurtled him into the wall. Her armor had finished rebooting.

The shadow pirate hit the wall and slid down, already moving to stand. A plasma beam shot hit him in the chest as he stood halfway, burning a molten hole in his armor and chest. He looked up at her, then collapsed. _There it is_ , he thought as his vision faded to black, _I knew she would stop toying with me eventually._

Samus watched the pirate as the glow in its eyes faded, then turned away. She didn't know what had prompted the pirates to strike here, but she did know one thing. There was someone she needed to see.

* * *

The regional commander of K'ressh stood outside the building, leaning against a police hovercar. One officer was personally attending, no doubt trying to pry a promotion out of this. Other officers were tending to the civilians they had managed to evacuate, while others were sweeping the building for the assassin.

"Excuse me." A heavily modulated voice said from behind him.

"I'm sorry," the officer said as he turned towards the speaker, "You can't just- What the hell?!"

The commander turned to see a figure clad in red and orange armor standing behind them holding something in one hand. The only hand, he realized as he took in the massive cannon that covered the right forearm.

"I'm here about my compensation." The figure said.

"What compensation?" the commander managed to ask.

In response, the figure tossed what it was holding at his feet. It was the assassin, a massive glowing crater in its chest. "One shadow pirate," the figure said, "Five mufflers. It wasn't exactly easy, and I definitely didn't do it for fun."

The officer stammered for a moment before clearing his throat. "I-I'm sorry," he said, "I'm g-going to have to as-sk you to-"

The commander mutely waved him aside. If this figure had killed the assassin, it probably wasn't a good idea to argue.

"Excellent." The figure said, clapping its hand on his shoulder. "Now, let's discuss how many zeroes you're going to pay me."

* * *

AN: Wow, I'm awful at focusing on a single story. This story started off as imagining how Samus could be badass without the armor and grew from there.

A couple things. First: the use of pronouns. You probably noticed the pronouns for the shadow pirate shifted between it and he. That was me trying to show the shift of the 3rd person perspective between character focusing. Not sure how well it worked, you probably know better than I do.

Second: The shadow pirate. Let's start off by saying I like shadow pirates. They're futuristic alien pirate ninjas, why wouldn't they be cool? Anyways, a commando pirate would be an elite soldier in an attack, basically making normal pirates look like wimps. A shadow pirate is if there's something you want done subtly or behind enemy lines. They're not as great in direct combat with a superior foe, but they excel in other areas. This is why the fight played out the way it did: Samus is used to walking around in enough armor and guns to make a small army, casually blowing shadow pirates to pieces. Without that advantage, in a situation the shadow pirate is best at, she would have lost without the suit.

And third: the shadow pirate himself. This is a bit of a test run, giving the pirate's personalities. So far I've written them as basically being walking bullet sponges. This one gets actual gender pronouns, an appearance, and personal interests. Hopefully it works, but I probably won't give every pirate an entire personality just to kill them a line or two later.

Please leave reviews so I can tell what I did well. Or flatter me, I won't argue.


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